Family: Katy

I got to spend a lot of time with Katy and her sister Lauren while they were growing up. Every year I would spend Christmas Eve at their house so their parents could go to Midnight Mass. Christmas morning Noel would send the girls in to wake me up so they could open their gifts. I would always pretend to be asleep and thought it was so funny because the girls would just stand there as if they were afraid to touch me. And yet they were so eager to open their gifts they could barely contain themselves. Eventually I would take pity on them and get up to join the family.

Katy was always very direct and not afraid to speak her mind. Conversations with her were always interesting: she had no qualms about letting you know she disagreed with you. She was open to new ideas, but sometimes had to think things through on her own first. She’d get that look on her face that let you know the wheels were turning inside. She’s an adult now but she still gets that look sometimes!

I remember one day she came to visit me; she was perhaps 5 years old at the time. The first thing she said to me was, “You’re my mother’s sister!” Apparently she was just figuring out the whole family structure.

“Yes, I am.” I replied, taking her coat to hang up in the closet.

She got even more excited, saying “And you’re the LITTLE sister!”

“Yes, I am!” I laughed because I’m about 3 inches taller than Noel.

“AND YOU CAN TALK!!” she was really amazed at this because her sister, at age 3, was still NOT talking. She had no idea that little sisters could.

“Oh, honey!” I cried, “Lauren will talk someday, really she will. We just have to give her some time to figure things out.”